Just a quick note, the wordpress for blackberry app is really convenient. I like it. If your using it however, be aware that it seems to not just drain your battery but absolutely sucks it down. The key is to make your post and the actually closed the program and not let it run in the background. I haven’t had a chance to mess around with the setting so there might be an easy solution but apparently wordpress for blackberry keeps and open connection which drains the battery. The app is awesome and worth having the minor inconvenience of closing the program when finished.
Microsoft Certification
I came across this a week or so back and decided to hang it up in the store. As I mentioned on twitter, it was kind of cool that its signed by Bill Gates (I know he didn’t actually sign it but his is the name which is on it).
I have quiet a few certifications along with my TTU college diploma, maybe I will bring them all to work, hang them, and create and area where I honor myself. Just kidding. Not happening. The one certification is cool though since it was not being used. Have the A+ and Net+ certifications I could bring. Their each entry level and in my opinion do not represent much like the microsoft certifications but they are in a drawer being unused so maybe I will bring them out just to have something to do with them.
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Update blogs from Blackberry?
I have been reading article after article that cell phones, ipads, and other mobile devices were really beginning to cut into the need for laptops. So much in fact, that it is expected that desktop computers will regain marketshare over the coming years as laptops are phased out for more mobile devices. I have not been totally sold on this until recently. I have begun trying more gadgets and keep up with new technology. Even though I am in the computer industry, this doesn’t mean my customers are always working with the me most current equipment so I have to be proactive when it comes to keeping up with trends. Thus this blog post. Guess we will see how it turns out, but this is currently being written on my blackberry and transferred to the blog. Hope it works!!!!
Attaching a really cool pic just for testing purposes.
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Are all laptops created equal?
Its easy to get carried away with computers specs. For instance, I had someone stop by the store asking my opinion on a Dell Optiplex desktop they had found online. The specs actually were not that bad and the price of this Dell desktop wasn’t to bad but the person was consumed by hard drive size. Wasn’t concerned about RAM, build quality, CPU speed, or anything else, just hard drive size. I asked what it was that required a minimum of 1TB of hard drive space, they said it was Farmtown – Farmville on Facebook. This brings me to my point (finally), please do not base your computer purchase simply on specs. Especially laptop computers. I realize money and price of the laptop is often an issue but there are deals to be found if you shop smartly.
I have people all the time who think I am crazy when I suggest a Dell Latitude or IBM Thinkpad for someone who will be very active with their computer. They see the price and think its absurd. I then mention they could probably find an excellent used one but once again, most people look at the size of the hard drive, speed of the processor, amount of RAM, and nothing else. Their convinced that the $299 laptop special at Walmart is just as good as the $1500 business class mobile computer.
This week I had an almost new ACER brought into the store. This computer was so flimsy it will be lucky to last the rest of the year despite the fact it had 4 Gigs of RAM and a 500 gig hard drive. It was built completely of plastic and the chassis/frame of the laptop would bend over a 1/4 inch in any direction with hardly any force applied. Having worked on laptops for years, I can honestly say, there is a difference between a cheap laptop and a quality laptop.
I work on a lot of Dell Latitude series laptops which is Dell’s business class laptop. These laptops rock. The quality of build is excellent. Every component is top notch with minimal amounts of plastic used, all tolerances are tight, and I have seen these laptops completely abused yet continue to function. IBM Thinkpads are much the same way. The company I used to work for used IBM Thinkpads almost exclusively (with the occasional Latitude thrown in) and despite the employees doing everything in their power to destroy their mobile computer, the Thinkpads seldom were damaged beyond cosmetic wear and tear.
Every year, Walmart, Best Buy, Electronics Express, etc. have their $299 computers on sale or something similar. This is great for me because most of the times they end up at Cookeville Computers 13 months later with major damage after the warranty has expired.
This also brings me to the Apple Mac-books. The specs on Apple on Mac-books and even the Mac-book Pro’s are usually not very good and if not for a very efficient operating system, their Windows counterparts would likely outperform then in most categories. However, the build quality of an Apple computer is second to none. I have an extremely nice and well built Dell Studio XPS 16 laptop but even it is no match for the Mac’s when it comes to build quality. People ask me all the time if the Mac’s are worth the price. I am not a Mac fan and I will usually say no, they are not worth the price as you are paying for the Apply name BUT….they are worth a lot because of the quality that goes into each one of them.
I always tell people, its like comparing a KIA to a new BMW. The KIA might have just as much horsepower and they may both have power windows but the BMW is going to win out in build quality every-time. Its the same way with computers. You get what you pay for.
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Custom Built Computer?
Let me begin by saying that a custom built computer, when built right, will be faster and probably more reliable than anything you could buy prebuilt. Having said that, let me begin.
I get people all the time telling me about this custom built computer someone they know has, or I have people telling me about their own custom built computer that they had built. Each time I hear this, I begin to cringe thinking about the poor quality of parts and poor workmanship that probably went into this supposed gaming beast. The simple fact is, I have never had a custom built computer brought into Cookeville Computers which was not built cheaply and loaded with issues. It could be that anyone who has built a proper custom computer does not need me. Who knows. This is just my opinion based on my experience.
When you start buying custom built computers you run into a couple of problems. The first is skill and the second is cost cutting.
First and foremost, building a computer is not the hardest thing in the world to do. In fact, I would bet most people, with proper instructions could build a computer. However, there does need to be knowledge as to what components will work together in achieving the desired results, which is often times gaming power. So, you do your research, buy the right equipment and build a computer which is a total beast. Right? Usually not.
What happens most of the time is that someone will have a custom pc built for them. In doing this they think they can either get a faster computer than one being sold by a computer manufacturer such as Dell, HP, etc. or they think they can get one built cheaper.
Herein lies the problem.
A local computer ‘guru’ or a local computer shop agrees to build this person a computer for a certain amount of money. Usually the price quoted is based on who knows what but is often times much more expensive than a pc from a manufacturer because it is going to be so much faster and better. So, the customer agrees and it is up to the shop to begin building the computer. Then it happens. The shop starts looking for the absolute cheapest components it can find which meet the minimum specs agreed upon by the customer.
The trouble has now officially begun. Every piece of the computer is now being purchased based on price rather than quality. For example, a 500 watt power supply can be purchased for $25 or $100. There is a difference. I used to use the cheapo’s until I realized they were junk. This is true of most all components which make up a computer.
The end result is that a cheap computer is built using cheap parts.
Many may argue with my statements but this is simply what I have seen over the years. This scenario happens ALL the time. I’m not even going to begin getting into all the software and driver conflicts which usually occur.
Again, as I stated at the very beginning of this article, a custom built computer is a flippin beast when built correctly and when price isn’t an issue. I currently have an i7 Dell XPS with 12 gigs of ram and a couple of ATI 4870 video cards. Its a really fast setup. If I had chosen to build this myself, using top of the line parts, it would be faster. Not much, but higher end memory and other pieces would make this slightly faster. However, I have a 3 year warranty and have not had to do anything to it in the months I have had it. This machine is setup for photoshop and other design work and it works great. And remember, I could build this computer with me eyes shut practically but I even decided myself to purchase from a manufacturer.
So basically, please be careful when your purchasing your dream custom built computer. It could turn into a nightmare.
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HP DV5 Laptop Vista Reinstall
The HP DV5 Laptop is a very nice laptop sold by Hewlett Packard and aimed mostly at home consumers who would like the ability to watch media and do some light gaming. It really has a lot of ‘belles and whistles’ I guess you could say. Cookeville Computers had one come in the store a couple weeks ago with a bad hard drive. We can not stress enough the importance of backing up files but that’s another article entirely. In this situation, the hard drive was physically damaged and had to be replaced and this Windows Vista needed to be reinstalled.
The problem with reinstalling windows on the dv5 HP laptop (or many of the other HP DV series laptops) is the lack of drivers found on the windows Vista dvd. Because there is not a suitable driver available for the RAID chipset made onto the DV model laptop, the Vista install will hang on the final step of the install “Completing Installation”. When we say it hangs, it really hangs. The “Completing Installation” will not go away and defiantly will not complete.
Ideally in this situation, Cookeville Computers would simply go into the BIOS and change the drive type from sata to ahci. This will allow the install to complete and once Vista is installed, suitable driver can then be installed and the drive type within the Bios may be changed back to sata. Of course, leave it to HP, in providing a basically worthless Bios with hardly any setting available.
So, what to do. The solution is really quiet simple. Most of the HP DV series laptop use a form of AMD Raid controller for the hard drive. Since this is not the standard driver provided by Microsoft, it must be added manually.
When installing Windows Vista, there will be an option to install drivers. This is where the magic happens. You will need to go to HP’s website (or whomever the maker of your computer is), look up the model of your laptop (or desktop as this is a universal problem) and download the correct driver. Once the correct driver is downloaded, place it on a usb drive, cd, dvd, etc. and when given the prompt to install additional drivers, simply point to the location of you files.
Vista will now finish the install. This is really a quiet common problem that we see a lot but can really be headache if your not sure how to handle it. Again, this problem can be seen on both desktops and laptops regardless of the pc maker (Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, Gateway, eMachines, etc.)
Hope this helps someone out and if your in the area and needing help with your computer problems, then please give Cookeville Computers.
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Tagged drivers, dv5, HP, laptop, operating system, reinstall, sata, vista
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Early Thoughts on Photoshop CS5
One of my favorite hobbies (which just so happens to also involve my profession which is pretty cool) is web design and graphics. The two actually go hand in hand. Most all the web design I do requires customer graphics, logos, etc. so being able to make what I need quickly is very handy and gives me a lot of control over the sites I design.
In addition to simple but catchy web graphics, I also like to work on more serious art involving photograph manipulation and complete digital creations. I confess that I am not a great artist. I have more talent than the average person I suppose but drawing on paper or painting on a canvas just doesn’t interest me very much.
Luckily, Photoshop is not only something I find interesting but it also provides tools so that someone such as myself, who is not a great natural artist, can still create nice work. I have never had any formal training when it comes to Photoshop so most of what I know has been self taught with the assistance of tutorials and manuals.
Online tutorials are great source of knowledge for not only Photoshop training but for most any skill set your wishing to build upon. I am personally a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and while this membership is not free, it provides a wealth of knowledge and is an essential part of my ongoing Photoshop training.
If you are not interested in a membership site, there are many free Adobe Photoshop tutorial sites floating around the web. Some of these web sites are excellent.
A quick listing of some of my favorite free Adobe Photoshop tutorial web sites are listed below:
Photoshop Tutorials – At the moment I am really enjoying this site. The tutorials listed here are top notch and goes well beyond the basics. Many of the Photoshop tutorials listed here will require quiet a bit of Photoshop skill just to keep up but they are fantastic and very creative. Highly recommend.
PSD Vault – This site has TONS of tutorials. They are even nice enough to provide a RSS feed which Cookeville Computers pulls tutorial feeds from.
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The cost of RAM?
Increasing the amount of RAM in your computer is the cheapest and easiest way to increase the speed of your desktop and laptop computers. I often times have customers calling me to purchase RAM for their computers but unfortunately I do not sell RAM to the public except on repair and upgrade work which is brought into the store. This may change but I currently have no desire to keep a large quantity of stock on hand which might sit on the shelf for months.
While RAM is fairly inexpensive, it is worth noting that the price will vary depending on the computer your own and unfortunately, the older the computer, the more you will be paying for RAM. This seems completely backwards and used to think so as well until I did some research. The example I use is new cars. Auto manufacturers set their machines up to build new cars and can build them fairly inexpensively (relatively speaking of course.) If we were to call up Ford and ask them to build us a 1999 Ford Taurus, they would just say no. Manufacturers of computer memory are much the same way. They have their machines setup to build the most current memory (DDR3) which is being used in new computers by companies such as Dell, HP, IBM, etc. They have a whole lot fewer machines setup to build memory for previous generation computers which use DDR2 RAM. This trend continues the further back your go. Memory for older computers which use the old PC100 and PC133 format are really, really expensive based on the amount of RAM you get for your money.
So just remember, there is a reason RAM prices are what they are in terms of most current being cheaper on a per meg basis.
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How would I reinstall windows? Be careful who repairs your computer.
So, how would I reinstall Microsoft Windows XP? Or how about Windows Vista? The reinstallation of an operating system is probably one of the most basic forms of repair service which we provide. Reinstalling an operating system can be time consuming as there are occasionally obscure and outdated drivers which may be hard to fine. There is also the oddball computer which just doesn’t behaive as it shoudl, but overall, an operating system install is pretty straight forward. Cookeville Computers, on average, installs or reinstalls operating systems 3 – 5 times a day.
You may be wondering why I mention this. Well the reason is, I actually had a “competing” computer repair company contact me wondering how this was done. It was not a prank call, it was not a mental patient dialing the wrong number and just striking up random conversation. Nope. This was actually someone who claimed to own and operate a computer repair business yet this person had no clue how to even begin this basic job.
Apparently this person was in the business of removing computer viruses from desktops/laptops and they had stumbled upon an actual problem that couldn’t be fixed by simply running a generic virus scanner. Rather than fixing the pc and removing the virus (like Cookeville Computers/Cookeville Virus Removal would do <—- shameless plug) this person decided the only fix would be to reinstall windows. The only problem was they had no idea how to begin. They did not have a windows operating system CD/DVD, did not know how to go about getting the correct software, and to top it off, they did not understand the most basic parts of licensing and product keys.
How could this be? How can someone knowingly offer their services in a field they clearly are not knowledgeable enough to be working in? If I sound upset about this person, I really am not. The more jokers out there doing this kind of stuff only makes my services that much more valuable but I do feel bad for the people who have taken their computers to this computer repair store and have an expectation of competent service.
Curious if this could be a joke someone was playing on me, I decided to Google the phone number (caller ID rocks!). Amazingly, this number was attached to a local Craig’s list advertisement. Claiming professional and quick computer repair service, this person was charging more than Cookeville Computers to remove a virus and repair damaged computers. What the crap? This can’t be serious? If I wasn’t so busy I would make a mental note of this person and check back in a few months and see if this borderline computer repair scam was still going on.
In general, this would be equal to me claiming to repair automobiles but having no skills except being able to check the oil.
Two days later, it happens again! This time its a different person. So now we have two people in the Tennessee area trying to fix computers without a clue how to do it. This person had it figured out though, they simply brought the laptop they were supposed to repairing for their customer directly to Cookeville Computers and asked us to repair it for them. It was the most simple of hardware problems which took maybe 5 minutes for us to resolve (5 minutes is being generous) and this person said whatever I charge he would just double the price to his ‘client’.
The moral of this story is, be careful who you get to work on your computer. Like any business, there are always those who will give others a bad name and the computer repair business is no exception. There are shady stores in the Cookeville, Sparta, Baxter, Algood, Smithville and surrounding areas of middle Tennessee so just be weary of who you get to work on your desktop or laptop computer. I would say you get what you pay for but in each of these circumstances, you get much LESS than what you are paying for.
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Computers We Use
I get folks all the time time asking “what kind of computer do you use” and since yesterdays article basically bashed custom built computers, I thought it would be a good time to list what computers I currently use along with their intended purpose. I will one day give full reviews of these computers but until then this will be a brief run down.
Main office computer – This computer is the powerhouse I use mostly for design work and web design. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and various graphic programs are all used on this pc. The i7 processor is a beast and I have yet to have any graphics slow it down. The video cards help some but most of what I do is dependent on processing power and RAM.
Dell XPS
I7 Processor
2 Terabyte Hard Drive
1 Terabyte Backup Drive
12 Gigs Ram
ATI 4870 Video Card x2
Windows 7 64 bit
Shop and Virus Removal PC – This pc is used for basic shop purposes and is the main one I use to slave/dock hard drives to remove viruses. I also use it for data recovery and creating customer backup disks. It has a very fast processor and plenty of RAM. Notice the video card is the standard onboard Intel chip. This desktop has no real need for anything more. I’m a firm believer in getting a pc that meets its intended purpose and that’s exactly what this Dell desktop does.
Dell Studio XPS
Quad Core Processor
500 Gig Hard Drive
8 Gigs Ram
On board intel graphics card
Windows 7 64 bit
Small Portable Laptop – Notice I said small laptop and not netbook. I’m not a huge fan of netbooks because i like to be able to perform at least minimum photoshop work on any computer I use and a netbook just will not do this. The vostro 1220 is like netbook on steroids. It has a 12.1 inch screen, weighs about 4 lbs, and can do pretty much any graphic project i need with good speed. It does have a quirky thing going on with the touchpad/cursor jumping around while I type which is driving me crazy but I’m sure this is a setting or driver I need to change or update and have just been to lazy to pursue it. This is the computer I carry back and forth to work daily and the one i use at night while at home.
Dell Vostro 1220
T6600 Dual Core Processor
4 gigs Ram
320 Gig 7200 RPM Hard Drive
On board intel processor
Windows 7 64 bit
Graphics and Design Laptop – This laptop is really top of the line when it come to my design work. It has a fast processor, lots of RAM, fast video card, and the screen simply cannot be equaled. It does run hot but I have a Zalman laptop cooler I use and I keep it on a table rather than my lap so heat is not an issue.
Dell Studio 16 XPS
RGBLED Display – FANTASTIC !!!!
P8600 Processor
6 gigs Ram
500 gig 7200 Hard Drive
ATI 4670 Video Card
Windows 7 64 bit
Photo Editing – This is actually the one I just purchased my wife for photo editing. I use it on occasion while doing graphics if I’m closer to it than I am my Studio 16. This thing is FAST. It has the new i7 processor along with the ATI 4670 video card which makes it awesome for photo editing or graphic design. In addition, it has the 17.3″ display. This is a sweet setup. Originally had a problem with lockups and freezing when I first got it but after removing some of the preinstalled junk programs there hasn’t been a problem. And its purple ?
Dell Studio 17
i7 Processor
4 Gigs Ram
500 Gig Hard Drive
Ati 4670 Video Card
Windows 7 64 bit
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